Perspectives on the Origin, Intent and Impact of the Series of Gutshops (workshops on the feeding habit analysis of fishes), and Some Directions for the Future

Gutshops (Workshops on Fish Feeding Habits) started with Charles (Si) Simenstad and Sandy Lipovsky in 1976, with a modest meeting in Astoria, OR (WA Sea Grant). Gregor Cailliet collaborated with Gutshops in 1978 at Lake Wilderness , WA (Lipovsky and Simenstad, Eds, 1979), and Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, CA in 1981 and 1984 (Cailliet and Simenstad. Eds, 1982 [WA Sea Grant]; Simenstad and Cailliet, Eds, 1984 [Env.Biol. Fish.]). A fifth Gutshop in 1992 occurred at Rosario Resort, WA (Stouder et al. 1986 [Belle W. Baruch Inst. Mar. Biol. Coast. Res.]). Nonaligned Gutshops followed in 1996 (San Francisco State University; MacKinley and Shearer, Eds,; AFS) and 2014 (Quebec, Canada; Jason Link, Chair, AFS Annual Meetings). Early Gutshops focused on methodology and analysis. Subsequent Gutshop topics encompassed foraging theory (niche overlap, competition, nutrition, community trophic interactions), physiology (digestion), behavior and consumption rates. Major accomplishments were enhanced communications, standardization, design and evolution of indices (IRI, GII, PSIRI, etc.), statistics, graphics, and chemical biomarkers such as stable isotopes and fatty acids. Future directions, represented at this meeting, include: internal tags (e.g., detecting movements, acidity, temperature); refined predator and prey biomarkers (stable isotopes, fatty acids, genetics); automated prey scanning; and, bioenergetics and digestion physiology.